I bought a Dpms ap4 (m4clone) back in march. I've got 800 rounds through it so far. Zero malfunctions, have used factory loaded pvri paritzen 55gr ball & remington 55gr SP. Varget reloads using 55gr SP, 60gr BT, 60 gr V-max.
Fairly accurate carbine, scoped from rest around 1.5" @ 100yd. Good fit and finish. Ive shot quite a few carbine drills with it, ran it pretty hard and hot a few times and so far it hasn't given me any problems.
I really like the ap4 and wouldn't hesitate to recommend, sorry no experience with the lo pro classic tho.----Gate

I own a Panther Sportical in 5.56 that I've added a few parts, pieces and accessories to and I've had nothing but great experiences with it! Light, accurate, well-built and very affordable. I've even shot a lot of WOLF through it with no problems whatsoever.

If you listen to a lot of the 'experts' on most of the other forums, they will tell you to run away as fast as you possibly can from anything DPMS. Or...anything that isn't what they supposedly own, for that matter. I've owned several DPMS rifles, and still own 4 of them, ranging from the AP4, the Panther Bull 20, 6.8 SPC, and just recently a LR308B. I have also built at least a dozen AR's for myself and friends, using DPMS lowers and lower parts kits, upper assemblies, etc., and have yet to have any problems or found anything that was out of spec on any of them. But the internet is full of horror stories of them blowing up/breaking/causing abnormal child birth/etc. Find out for yourself.

No, they are not considered to be "top tier/shelf" in the world of AR's. Supposedly that is reserved for Colt/LMT/Noveske/Knight/Sabre Defence/etc. No, they are not designed to be used in combat, or where you might be running a few thousand rounds through them non-stop, or thrashing them in a carbine class. They weren't designed for that kind of abuse. Take care of them, clean them, run good ammo through them, enjoy them. Funny thought, the recent tests for a semi-auto sniper package was ultimately won by Knight Armament with their SR25. With all those top tier AR manufacturers out there, guess who came in second?

You can buy the lo-pro classic, get into the game a whole lot cheaper than if you had to save up the $$$'s for a so-called name-brand AR, and use the money you saved to turn modify your lo-pro to what you want it to look and perform like. There is nothing wrong with the DPMS line, and if by chance you found one that did have an issue, there customer service is excellent. I would buy one with confidence.

I own a Panther Sportical in 5.56 that I've added a few parts, pieces and accessories to and I've had nothing but great experiences with it! Light, accurate, well-built and very affordable. I've even shot a lot of WOLF through it with no problems whatsoever.

I have seen tons of stuff about DPMS being junk, but none of it was first hand. They were cases of "I knew someone who had a problem." I HAVE built parts guns with DPMS stuff, and run them through heavy duty Police Carbine courses against Colts and Stags. No problem. Same goes for the Model 1 Sales stuff. Everyone bad mouths it. I built a parts gun w/ model 1 upper and lower parts kit on a Rock River lower. Scored third in time and accuracy out of 25 other guys in the course, 2000 rounds over three days. No issues there either.

Not too long ago Olympic was the junk AR. That has faded away. In fact right now I am at work on my day off waiting for UPS to show up with my DPMS upper.

You will here horror stories about just about every make of gun out there , everybody has a lemon now and then. Fact is DPMS sells alot of guns and parts. If you are looking to build an ar lower dpms trigger groups are probably the most abundent out there. Which means people buy them so they must be of good quality. i'ved used there trigger parts in two of my bulids . Zero problems.. almost forgot Jerry Miculek uses them for three gun...

Thanks everyone for the info and experience. I guess I should give you guys a little more info. I actually bought the Lo-Pro in the late spring at the end of the Obama-rama price jumps. I got it for $750. I am not new to shooting but was new the whole ar thing. I had heard of dpms and my local gun dealer (awesome guy) recommended them, but when I went home and started lookin around on one particular sight, some people made it seem like I bought the biggest piece of sh*t out there. I have pushed about 500 rounds through it so far and it has been awesome, but I was considering selling it for a colt. I just figured that it would be good to see what other people thought about dpms from other sites before I did anything. Thanks again.

Sure...I've been around the AR platform for over 25 years, closer to 30, but I'm always willing and open to learning something new.

So...for $750 I believe the price was, you are going to be able to find something better. I'm sure with diligent shopping, and some luck, you might come up with a few different configurations that one could opine as being 'better'. Better is in the eyes of the beholder, not just because some carbine class instructor, gunnie, wanna-be-spec-ops, mall-ninja, or just someone who knows someone who said so, said so.

Can I build a better package for $750? I'm positive I can. But that isn't what he was asking. DPMS quite often gets the short end of the stick, from all the experts who always know why, but can't always come up with examples. In the past, when they were first starting out, yes, they had teething problems. So did most everyone else. But because they don't rate high on the "M4 Carbine Chart", that makes them an inferior piece? Or is it because they aren't fully mil-spec, or don't MPI or HPT some components? Were they built for that purpose? No. But they do have models available that are. But for the price, they are what they were designed to be. An affordable entry level AR, not a "go-to-war" weapon.

If you don't like them, don't buy one. But to the original poster, I would buy one of their products without hesitation. Now, if he was asking for a better product, maybe with a little more to spend, then there are several choices and brands to go with. But there is nothing wrong with DPMS.

Sure...I've been around the AR platform for over 25 years, closer to 30, but I'm always willing and open to learning something new.

So...for $750 I believe the price was, you are going to be able to find something better. I'm sure with diligent shopping, and some luck, you might come up with a few different configurations that one could opine as being 'better'. Better is in the eyes of the beholder, not just because some carbine class instructor, gunnie, wanna-be-spec-ops, mall-ninja, or just someone who knows someone who said so, said so.

Can I build a better package for $750? I'm positive I can. But that isn't what he was asking. DPMS quite often gets the short end of the stick, from all the experts who always know why, but can't always come up with examples. In the past, when they were first starting out, yes, they had teething problems. So did most everyone else. But because they don't rate high on the "M4 Carbine Chart", that makes them an inferior piece? Or is it because they aren't fully mil-spec, or don't MPI or HPT some components? Were they built for that purpose? No. But they do have models available that are. But for the price, they are what they were designed to be. An affordable entry level AR, not a "go-to-war" weapon.

If you don't like them, don't buy one. But to the original poster, I would buy one of their products without hesitation. Now, if he was asking for a better product, maybe with a little more to spend, then there are several choices and brands to go with. But there is nothing wrong with DPMS.

Slo

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I've been around the platform for 45 years! So what? No matter how long you 'claim' to have experience it appears you haven't learned much from it. Your mind is made-up already. Ignorance is bliss!

P.S. Re-read the original post and you'll see that the OP asked for opinions about DPMS and said NOTHING about price.

Sure...I've been around the AR platform for over 25 years, closer to 30, but I'm always willing and open to learning something new.

So...for $750 I believe the price was, you are going to be able to find something better. I'm sure with diligent shopping, and some luck, you might come up with a few different configurations that one could opine as being 'better'. Better is in the eyes of the beholder, not just because some carbine class instructor, gunnie, wanna-be-spec-ops, mall-ninja, or just someone who knows someone who said so, said so.

Can I build a better package for $750? I'm positive I can. But that isn't what he was asking. DPMS quite often gets the short end of the stick, from all the experts who always know why, but can't always come up with examples. In the past, when they were first starting out, yes, they had teething problems. So did most everyone else. But because they don't rate high on the "M4 Carbine Chart", that makes them an inferior piece? Or is it because they aren't fully mil-spec, or don't MPI or HPT some components? Were they built for that purpose? No. But they do have models available that are. But for the price, they are what they were designed to be. An affordable entry level AR, not a "go-to-war" weapon.

If you don't like them, don't buy one. But to the original poster, I would buy one of their products without hesitation. Now, if he was asking for a better product, maybe with a little more to spend, then there are several choices and brands to go with. But there is nothing wrong with DPMS.

Slo

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By the way, most of those instructors, gunnys and spec-op people know a hell-of-a lot more than you do!

I never claimed to be an expert, nor pretend to be one. And that is why I asked the OP about the price, to get a better idea of what range we were in. But since he mentioned the lo-pro, I looked up the best prices on that and had an idea of what range he was in. And in that range, you'd be hard pressed to come up with something "better"

He wasn't asking about other options. He was asking what this forum thought about the DPMS model.

So far you have been argumentative and condescending without offering anything but a puffed chest and claimed experience.

We have debated this subject until it has been beat to death.

Yes, there are other better brands, but not everyone wants to max their credit cards to be carrying Sabre Defense, D&L Sports or some custom rig hand forged by the mall ninja creator of the moment.

TO THE OP:

DPMS is a fine, better than entry level gun. While it's not ready to come off the shelf and win you a three gun, or take to the sandbox, for what the average person is going to do with it, it's a great choice.

I agree with Bear and Slo, there is nothing wrong with the company other than the fact that a bunch of know it alls on the interwebz have a hard on for them.